Bohemia Interactive announces a delay to the release of Arma 3, saying the military shooter sequel is now expected sometime in 2013 (the game was announced for release this past summer). The announcement refers to this as "an eventful year," noting the arrest of two of their developers for espionage, though this is not directly blamed for the setback. Here's word:

In what might be described as an eventful year, Bohemia Interactive has decided to postpone the release of Arma 3. The additional development time enables the project to reach its full potential, with the studio expecting to finalize their release plans in the new year.

Recently, Joris-Jan van ‘t Land, a 10-year veteran of Bohemia Interactive, took over the role of Arma 3 Project Lead from Daniel Musil, who left the studio to pursue other opportunities.

Joris-Jan van ‘t Land: "We’ve been in the process of implementing changes that will help us innovate as a studio under unexpected circumstances - facing problems we simply couldn't have imagined”, referring to the detainment of two Bohemia Interactive employees in Greece. Both were arrested on suspicion of espionage while spending their holiday on Lemnos - an island that served as inspiration for the environment in Arma 3. They have since remained in jail pending legal proceedings. "We're still trying to make sense of the situation and hope that our colleagues will be released soon. Although their plight has certainly affected us on a personal level, we continue working on the tasks identified as key to the release of Arma 3."

The new release window of Arma 3 has been set for 2013. Joris-Jan van 't Land: "I hope this update provides some answers regarding the status of the project. We’re currently sorting the specifics so we can deliver a more complete announcement at the beginning of next year."

The studio is also working on a standalone version of DayZ, which is developed by a team led by Dean Hall.

Armengar wrote on Dec 14, 2012, 03:48:The greek are notoriously finicky about their military installations (god knows why in the age of google earth). Even plane spotters get rustled for taking pictures of planes (that are documented already on wikipedia)

Because they are at a "cold war" with Turkey, prolly.

Oh that is so lame... You will PAY for your use of inappropriate dialogue!- Mojo Jojo

The greek are notoriously finicky about their military installations (god knows why in the age of google earth). Even plane spotters get rustled for taking pictures of planes (that are documented already on wikipedia)

Its not the cough that carries you off but the coffin they carry you off in.

DangerDog wrote on Dec 13, 2012, 16:31:I think they were planing on having a community alpha released before the new year, same for Day-Z - also delayed? but they decided to go with a newer version of Physx which meant redoing a lot of their assets.

reveal your sources! I was dissapointed with the current integration and I'd love to see they upgraded it. All the E3 videos showing physics and trucks hitting boxes is really sad to watch.

It's like doing large particle simulations in Maya... its just sad, and they think its really good all the while it's the most garbage simulations ever.

I wonder if the delay is to rework the "islands" so they're less-realistic in terms of military installations etc. at the behest of the Greeks, in order to let their guys out?

The Greeks problem with them might be that their game is seemingly (rightly or wrongly) giving away too much info about their islands and military installations - after all that was the main reason the guys from Bohemia were arrested wasn't it?

They probably took a lot of people off of Arma 3 and put them onto Day Z, since that mod probably sold more copies of Arma 2 than Arma 2 itself. They haven't even patched their latest DLC that is chocked full of bugs and has been out for quite a while.

I think they were planing on having a community alpha released before the new year, same for Day-Z - also delayed? but they decided to go with a newer version of Physx which meant redoing a lot of their assets.